1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to ladder assemblies, and more particularly to a ladder assembly suited for use with a variety of vehicles, such as pickup trucks, flatbed trucks, sports utility vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some vehicles with beds, such as trucks, are generally useful for hauling various objects. The vehicle bed is typically some distance from the ground surface. Unfortunately for some people, this can pose safety problems getting in and out of the vehicle bed. For example, jumping out of the vehicle bed can cause injury to feet, ankles, legs, or even falling can cause injury to other parts of the body.
To overcome these safety issues, it has been suggested to use a ladder to get in and out of the vehicle bed. Unfortunately, a typical ladder may often times be unpractical. Many conventional types of ladders are too big and take up too much storage space within the vehicle bed. If a smaller ladder is used, it may be stolen or jostle around in the vehicle bed during travel. In addition, some of these ladders have telescoping or folding legs for ease of storage. However, over time, the telescoping or folding joints that hold the ladder together can weaken and could make the ladder unstable during use. Also, some other types of ladders do not have hand rails or gripping components, and, thus, may induce a person to lose balance and fall off of the ladder resulting in injury. Still other ladders require a flat surface for proper stability. This often requires the user to park the vehicle on a flat surface, which is often inconvenient since many ground surfaces are sloped or on an incline.
As a result, there currently exists a need for an improved ladder assembly that allows a user to get in and out of a vehicle bed in a safe and convenient manner. To this end, there also exists a need to improve the structure of conventional vehicle ladder assemblies to thereby improve the ease of use, stability, and safety for the user.